It’s open season for Division I coaches to start calling you – but they aren’t.

What now? Don’t panic. If you’re not getting calls from coaches – right now is the time to get real. Ready? Here are 4 things you need to know if coaches aren’t calling:

1. Do you want to play college football? How deep is your passion for the game? How important is it to you to play? Do you want football to be a part of how you pay for your education? Before you make any decisions about where you play, who you play for, or even how you’ll get recruited – you have to know why you play football and if you want to continue. If you don’t want to play college football – that’s okay. College sports are highly competitive. They aren’t for everyone. Go relax, watch some TV, have a snack. No need to keep reading.

2. You will probably not play Division I football In the NFL draft, teams pick the best players first. Why? If they let a player they want sit on the draft board, other teams will take them. College football is the same way. When a coach wants a player, he goes out and gets him (this is as true for other sports as it is for football). If Division I coaches aren’t coming and getting you, it’s not because they want to make you sweat. It’s nothing personal – most high school players don’t play Division I. If you have a passion for the game of football and you know why you want to play, then this won’t matter. Nobody who truly loved the game ever quit because they didn’t like the color of their jersey.

3. There are a LOT of opportunities outside of Division I Less than 20% of college football roster spots in the United States are at the Division I level. That leaves 80% outside of Division I. Start exploring options in Division II and Division III – not only will you not be alone in playing outside of Division I, you will be doing what the majority of college football players do. There are scholarships available, and there are hundreds of thousands of students who are ready to go cheer their hearts out for their football players – and you can be one of those players. If you have the drive.

4. Successful Players Don’t Just Come from Division I Not only can Division II, III, and NAIA players have successful college careers – they can be successful in the pros, too. The last 3 teams to win the Super Bowl all had at least one player on the roster from a non-Division I school: Dave Tollefson (Giants), Pro Bowler John Kuhn (Packers), and Pro Bowler Jahri Evans (Saints). What school you goes to doesn’t define your success or failure – your dedication and hard work do.

Find out how you can step up your dedication to recruiting – click here.